Aetiological and precipiating factors in wife battering. A psychosocial study of battered wives

Forty-nine women who attended a surgical emergency department after being battered are the subjects of this prospective study. The childhood and adolescence of the women had been marked by abuse and violence in the parental home. Most of the women had suffered prolonged, repeated battering. Fifty-one per cent of the women and 88% of their male assailants were considered to be heavy consumers of alcohol and in over half of the cases of battering both the man and the women had been drinking. In most cases the women's own children were present when the mother was beaten. One third of the women stated that they were highly dependent on the man in question emotionally. It is concluded that social heredity, heavy consumption of alcohol and emotional dependence on the male assailant are major reasons for the woman's inability to break away from a relationship characterized by repeated battering.